Configuring Discussions Application-Wide

Application-wide discussion settings control useful but performance-intensive features
such as read tracking and thread mode. You can also set some aspects of how threads
marked as questions should be handled.

Discussion Feature Settings

Enable Read Tracking to have messages marked as read by the person who has
viewed them. You might also want to have them marked as read automatically if you
have a lot of traffic and want to ensure that more recent messages get attention
from readers.

For Thread Mode, select either Flat or Threaded. Flat views display
replies chronologically in the order they were received, and there is no indentation
between responses. In a threaded view, users can see which reply a person is
responding to because replies appear indented beneath the post to indicate embedded
replies. This can help users follow conversations because responses remain
associated together visually. This is a global setting for all users, but note that
individual users can change their Discussion View Style under their General
Preferences and that their preference overrides your global setting.

When replies reach the maximum set in the system property
thread.allMessageActions.messageLimit (the default is 100), replies will appear flat
even if you or the user has set them to appear as threaded.

Note: If you're seeing slower performance, try disabling read tracking and turning the
thread mode default to flat. Both of these features can tax
performance on some configurations.

Expert Settings

When a discussion thread is marked as a question, the following kinds of users can
mark replies as Helpful or Correct answers:

Community administrators

Space, group, or project owners where the question was posted

The user who posted the question

In addition, all of these users except the user who posted the question can mark
the entire thread as Assumed Answered if the question was answered through
the course of the discussion. These signals make it easier for people reading the
thread to see which responses were on track. This could save them time if they've
got the same question.

As an administrator, you can specify how many Helpful Answers are allowed in a
single thread. You might want to keep this number small if you feel that a large
number of helpful responses might dilute the meaning of "helpful." Also, keep in
mind that Jive is
designed to award status points for helpful answers; you can increase the value of
these points by keeping the number small. On the other hand, increasing the number
could encourage people to respond more frequently if they think it's more likely
their response will get marked as helpful.

Depending on what's best for your community, you might find it useful to have every
new discussion thread start out Marked as a question by default (the person
creating it can un-mark it if they want to). You might want them to be questions if
your space is a place where people go for answers, such as a support-related space.
Contrast this with a space where people go to make suggestions or merely share
information.

After a discussion is published, by default there is a 15-minute grace period during
which the author can change the discussion into a question. As an administrator, you
can change the length of the grace period by editing the value (in minutes) of
questions.markAsQuestionTimeWindow under System > System
Properties. You may need to add the property at the bottom of the
page if it is not in the list. Community administrators and space/group/project
owners can mark a discussion as a question at any time (but they cannot un-mark it
as a question, only the author can).